The University of Alabama’s men’s golf team traveled to Yale’s campus in New Haven, Conn. to compete in the NCAA East Regional Tournament on May 20. The Crimson Tide finished the tournament at a 10-over-par 850.
Concluding the tournament with a ninth place finish, Alabama missed the NCAA tournament for only the second time in the last six years. “We had to play great in order to qualify, and I knew we were capable of qualifying, but it was going to take three solid rounds of golf from everyone on the team,” said redshirt freshman Scott Strohemyer.
Strohemyer strolled through the final round with a 2-under-par 68 to finish tied for 29th at 2-over-par 212 for the tournament.
“I felt I played very well,” Strohemyer said. “That was a big step in a positive direction for my golf game. The last round I knew we had to all put together a special day to qualify, and I knew I had been playing well but just was a tad off from playing really well.”
Sophomore Hunter Hamrick finished his final round with a 3-over-par round of 73 to finish tied for 24th.
Sophomore Bud Cauley came out on an even-par round of 70 on Saturday to finish tied for 36th at 4-over-par 214. Sophomore Hunter Slatton also scored an even par round of 70 in the final round to finish tied for 41st at 5-over-par 215.
“I feel like as a team we played pretty well,” Strohemyer said. “We just had one bad stretch of holes the second day but other than that I felt we had a good tournament. That just shows the difficulty of qualifying for the NCAA tournament.”
Every team sets its sights on the NCAA tournament. Some go on to the next level and continue to accomplish their aspirations, while others have to rest their hopes on the next season. Alabama made it far, but it wasn’t quite as far as they would have liked to reach.
“We all gave it everything we had; we just came up a little short,” Strohemyer said. “Yes, it would have been nice to play in the NCAA [tournament], but this was a humbling experience for our team that will help us be more successful down the road.”
Although the team didn’t advance to the NCAA tournament, Cauley and Hamrick have been honored as members of the Division I PING All-America team, as announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America this week. The duo received these honors due to previous tournament wins this season.
